Material handling vehicles are commonly found in warehouses, factories, shipping yards, and, generally, wherever pallets, large packages, or loads of goods are required to be transported from place to place. Material handling vehicles typically include load-bearing forks for lifting packages or pallets for transporting, a drive motor for propelling the truck, a steering control mechanism, an operator compartment, and a brake. A user or operator of the material handling vehicle may stand or sit within the operator compartment during use, which, in some cases, can be for an entire shift.
To provide enhanced comfort for the operator while operating a material handling vehicle, operator compartments may include an armrest. However, such armrests are typically not easily adjustable. For example, some previous armrests have been adjustable through the use of two telescoping pipes having apertures therethrough and a pin placed through the apertures to lock the telescoping pipes in place. These and other previously used armrest assemblies have not included a mechanism for easily adjusting the height of the armrest.
While it is known to provide a fixed armrest against which an operator may lean while operating a material handling vehicle, such armrests may not be desirably positioned to fully optimize comfort for a range of operators. Although armrest assemblies including a control handle are known that are adjustable up and down along a linear path, these assemblies are costly to manufacture due to the control handle moving with the armrest.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an easily adjustable armrest for a material handling vehicle that can be positioned along any linear path and can be locked into place.